Holiday entitlement
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In the UK all full-time workers are entitled to a minimum of 5.6 weeks (28 days) paid holiday per year. This is known as "Statutory leave entitlement" and this can also include bank holidays.

Employers must not round down holiday entitlement, it can only be rounded up.

Public holidays can be included as part of that 28 days.

Pro-rata holiday entitlement is calculated based on how much annual leave an employee is entitled to depending on the time they have worked across a respective holiday year. Part-time workers are afforded the same annual leave entitlement as full-time workers, however as fewer hours are worked, this will mean your part-time employees will have less than 28 days statutory leave accrued due to reduced working hours.

If you have any employee on a zero-hours contract, you can use our handy holiday allowance calculator above to work out the number of hours they have accrued to work out any annual leave allowance. Using absence management software like Timetastic will give you greater transparency over annual leave entitlements.

If an employee leaves part way through the holiday year, they are entitled to part of their statutory entitlement based on how much of the leave year they are employed by you. If an employee has taken more than their annual leave entitlement when they are set to leave the business then you can communicate your intention to deduct the amount from the final pay in writing to your employee. On the flip side, you can offer payment in lieu to cover the total number of holidays they have left.

In recent years, the passing of Queen Elizabeth II and the Coronation of King Charles III has meant there have been additional bank holidays added to the calendar. This causes panic and headaches for HR managers and business owners alike, but we can alleviate any stress here.

Workers don’t have a statutory right to not work bank holidays. It may come as a surprise, but you get the final say on whether bank holidays are included in holiday entitlement allowances. Whatever you choose, this should be outlined in your staff handbook or contracts to give employees peace of mind and know what they are obliged to take and when.